For years, the Caspian Sea was the safe zone of the alliance between Russia and Iran -- a landlocked black hole invisible to Western eyes. While the inland waterway has served as a sanctuary for Iranian drones bound for the battlefields of Ukraine in Moscow's ongoing full-scale invasion, Israel recently launched air strikes on Bandar Anzali, an Iranian naval outpost on the Caspian. Growing media reports based on intelligence say the corridor is now being used to transfer Russian-produced weaponry back to the Middle East, bringing Israeli air strikes…

Crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 5.5 million barrels during the week ending March 27, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 461.6 million barrels according to government data, which is 0.1% above the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude oil inventories saw a build of 10.263 million barrels in the period.…

Since the start of the Middle East war, China has been reselling record volumes of LNG to other Asian buyers as its own demand has been tepid and stocks and gas supplies sufficient. In March alone, China resold up to 10 cargoes of LNG—a record-high for any month ever, according to data from energy analytics firms Vortexa, Kpler, and ICIS cited by Reuters. Year to date, China has also resold record volumes of LNG, an estimated 1.31 million tons, shipped to South Korea, Thailand, Japan, India, and the Philippines, per data from Kpler. This…

Iran FM Clarifies Not Negotiating with US, But Messages Sent Iran's Foreign Minister Aragchi has clarified some things to AI Jazeera regarding diplomatic engagement with the US on potentially ending the war. The main takeaway is his explanation that what is happening now does not constitute negotiations in Tehran's view, but an exchange of messages directly or through our friends in the region (namely Pakistan). He said that all communication concerning diplomacy and the war is routed through the Foreign Ministry and overseen by the National Security…

BP's new chief executive officer Meg O'Neill has pledged consistency and clear direction in her first message to staff as she takes over the top job at the UK-based supermajor effective April 1, amid very turbulent times for both the company and the energy industry. “I’m committed to providing clear direction and consistency so we can move forward together with confidence,” O’Neill told staff in her first message as CEO, the Financial Times reports. O’Neill, former CEO of Australia’s Woodside Energy, was picked…

Oil and gas prices will not return to pre-war levels soon even if the conflict in the Middle East were to end today, Dan Jørgensen, European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, has warned. In the month since the beginning of the war in Iran, prices in the EU have jumped by about 70% for natural gas and by 60% for oil, Jørgensen said at an informal meeting of EU energy ministers. In financial terms, 30 days of conflict have already added $16.2 billion (14 billion euros) to the EU’s fossil fuels import bill, the commissioner…